United States Sanctions on the Government of Venezuela and Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA) 18 September 2019 No.19-011 Tweet Download PDF (268KB) Background   On 5th August 2019, the United States (US) administration increased its sanctions programme against the Government of Venezuela, when President Trump issued Executive Order 13884 . This Executive Order essentially blocks all property in the US of the Government of Venezuela, and prohibits US persons from engaging in any transaction with the Government of Venezuela. However, on the same day, a number of General Licenses were issued, which apply directly to US persons. These include:   General License 28 which gave US persons until 4th September 2019 to wind-down their operations, contracts or other agreements, involving the Government of Venezuela. The Government of Venezuela, for these sanction purposes includes all government agencies and any entity owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by the Venezuelan government or its agencies including PdVSA. General License 30 which authorizes all transactions and activities involving the Government of Venezuela that are ordinarily incident to operations or use of ports or airports in Venezuela, save where related to (a) the exportation or re-exportation of diluents, directly or indirectly, to Venezuela or (b) where otherwise prohibited.   Executive Order 13884 is in addition to the sanctions provisions of Executive Order 13850 under which, among others, the oil sector of Venezuela and PdVSA are also targeted. Executive Order 13850 remains in effect.     Trade with PdVSA or Venezuela’s oil sector   Without pre-authorisation from the US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), all US persons will continue to be prohibited from engaging in any dealings with PdVSA or any entity in which PdVSA owns, directly or indirectly, a 50 percent or greater interest. In addition, non-US persons could be subject to designation under Ex